Clarence Oddbody: Notes from a Conversation with Mom and Dad

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Notes from a Conversation with Mom and Dad

In one of our many talks before Dad died, Mom and Dad reminisced about their own families. I scribbled some things down; many of these details I'd heard before, but never wrote down, and if you know me, you know I'm very bad with names and relationships; I can't remember who's related to who for the life of me; some tragic childhood event must have snipped a few neurons.

(To this day people make fun of me for not knowing basic things most people remember; I even have to look up how to spell my mom’s name, Marilyn, every time I type it. No kidding.)

If you click on the picture to the left, you can see my notes; you probably won't be able to read them. Some of the addresses no longer exist; or, if they do, my family no longer has any connection with them.

This is what the notes say:

Wilson (Will) Damon and Minnie Damon had 4 children:
1. Bernice [bər'nIs]
2. Ethel - my grandma, Mom's mom; married LaVerne E Grandy
3. Ralph - Ralph had a shop (clock repair?) on Moxham Street in Ferndale.
4. Glenn

* Mom lived in Erie at 3011 East Ave. until she was 9 years old; Grandpa was transferred by the phone company (GTE) and their family moved to Johnstown.
* Mom grew up in Johnstown at 711 A. Avenue or 711 Linden Avenue (not sure; maps show 711 very likely) ; it was a brick duplex, one house down from the corner; her uncle Ralph lived with them at that address for some years; Grandpa helped him find work.
* Mom worked in a Jewish deli on Yoder Street in Johnstown when she was about 16 years old.

(The only Yoder street I can find in Johnstown looks to be residential now. My mom developed a taste for deli food and we developed it too as kids. To this day, I’d prefer a table full of meats, cheeses, and rustic breads with some sharp horseradish and mustard than any fancy cooked meal.)

Aside from Grandma (Ethel), I knew Uncle Glenn best, but he died when I was very little. He visited frequently with his dog. He drove an antique baby blue Chrysler with wings on the back. He gave the car to us when he died.

My Uncle Ken and Aunt Dorothy (Dad's brother and his wife) lived at 900 North Boston Ave, in Deland, FL. I have fond memories of that house when I was no more than 4 or 5. I can still tell you the floor plan and where I slept, and a movie we watched on TV - an old Tarzan picture in which a man is devoured to the bone by piranhas.

The sunset ride on the Lady Kate never transpired; Dad was not well enough for their 50th wedding anniversary. The Lady Kate is a passenger tour ship that boards at Perry's Monument on Presque Isle.

Dad's boyhood home was at 267 East 33rd Street in Erie, PA. It was a brick home with a coal furnace. Dad remembered playing sandlot baseball in that neighborhood, which had lots of children.

In those day's kids "hey'd" each other. They didn't knock or call, they stood outside and yelled. If someone was heying Dad, they'd stand outside and shout "Hey Char-lie." Equal emphasis was placed on the first and extended second syllable, eg [he: čar'-li:'] (the colon signifies length, but is not phonemic length, just a long, drawn out "Hey Char-leeeeeeeee!".

(Dad occasionally referred to a friend as “Sarge.” I asked him when I was little if they were in the army together. He said No, they played solder a lot when they were little and his friend was always the sergeant.)

Dad moved when he was in junior high school (1950 or 1953) to the house on 37th Street, which is the house I knew as Grandma and Grandpa's house. That was at 462 E. 37th Street. Dad's high school was Academy, which served as the venue for rock concerts before the Erie County Fieldhouse got the rock 'n roll business. (Chicago played at Academy. Mom said she "wouldn't walk across the street to see Chicago." They were kinda tame for me anyway, I liked Kiss and Alice Cooper; I did go see Chicago a few years ago; but it was just business to them; no soul. Mom and Dad wouldn't even let Kiss or Alice records in the house, but I've seen Alice play a couple times now, and he still puts on a show and loves what he does.)